1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of parking garage construction and more particularly, automatic parking garages.
2. Discussion of the Background
Increasing vehicle traffic in the inner cities of the larger centers, as well as the increasing need for space, have made it necessary to provide parking places for ever more vehicles while at the same time minimizing the space used. In this connection above-ground and underground garages are already known, in which vehicles can be positioned close to one another on a plurality of parking levels. In this kind of parking garage, it is usual for the vehicles to move under their own power along appropriate ramps and corridors to the individual parking locations.
This kind of parking is however subject to various disadvantages. For one thing, the entry and exit passages require a substantial amount of additional space, so that with the same construction volume fewer parking spaces can be provided. For another, the exhaust gases make it necessary to provide extensive ventilation installations which greatly increase the cost of the parking facility, and in addition require even more space. Moreover, this kind of installation must be publicly accessible, which on the one hand can endanger the parked automobiles in the sense of being stolen or damaged, and on the other hand can endanger individuals, particularly women.
For these reasons, various proposals have been made in the past for the construction of mechanized, automatic parking garages, in which the vehicles are left by their owners in an entrance, and then are loaded onto a lift platform by a special apparatus, then are conveyed to the entry of one of a plurality of parking compartments with the help of a lift platform, and finally are deposited within the corresponding parking compartment. In this connection, a particularly simple construction involves a circular arrangement with outwardly lying parking compartments and a central lift apparatus.
Swiss Patent specification CH-A5-649 340 discloses an automatic parking garage having:
(a) a storage silo with a circular periphery, which storage silo encloses a cylindrical inner shaft and includes, on a plurality of stacked parking levels, a plurality of radially directed parking compartments open toward the inner shaft; PA1 (b) a conveying apparatus located in the inner shaft for the transportation of vehicles between at least one entrance and the parking compartments, or between the parking compartments and at least one exit, the conveying apparatus including a plurality of vehicle-receiving transport surfaces which are moveable in a vertical direction and can be rotated together in a horizontal direction about a central axis, such that they can be positioned through vertical movement at the level of one of the parking levels or at the level of the at least one entrance, or the at least one exit, and then, through rotation about the central axis, can be brought adjacent one of the parking compartments in the corresponding parking level. PA1 (a) if the pulling apparatus includes a sliding carriage which is moveable along a guiderail positioned in the radial direction; and PA1 (b) if the sliding carriage has, on the outwardly directed side, two grip arms which are directed outwardly and parallel, which are displaceable tangentially with respect to each other and which are provided with rollers, whereby when a vehicle is to be drawn onto the transport surface, the grip arms can be shoved between the front wheels under the forward part of the vehicle, and can grip the forward wheels of the vehicle from the inside position.
In this parking garage, a plurality of parking compartments or single parking spaces are arranged in different parking levels radially about a cylindrical shaft. In the shaft is provided an elevator apparatus with a rotatable lift platform which defines two rotatable spaces for receiving vehicles. By vertical movement and/or rotation of the platform about a central axis, all parking compartments can be reached by the rotatable spaces.
The two rotatable spaces are provided parallel with one another at opposite sides of the central axis, and have their longitudinal axes displaced away from one another, so that their longitudinal axes are substantially out of alignment with the radial direction. The parking compartments of each parking level are correspondingly angled to each other, so that their longitudinal axes can be brought into alignment with the longitudinal axes of the rotatable spaces. The parking compartments of each level are divided into two equal halves, such that each of the halves can be directed only to one of the rotatable spaces, due to the different angulation.
On the one hand, because of the special arrangement of the parking compartments, the construction of the parking garage is relatively expensive. On the other hand, the deposit of the vehicles is relatively slow, because only two rotatable spaces are available, and only one rotatable space is available for half of the parking compartments of one level. No further details are given with regard to the necessary transfer apparatus for moving the vehicles between the rotatable spaces and the parking compartments.
A further automatic parking garage is known from the publication DE-A1-38 31 463. In this parking garage, the parking compartments are arranged radially. For the distribution of the vehicles there is likewise provided a combined lift and rotating apparatus, which however provides only a single transport space. The loading and unloading of the transport lift is assisted by an accessory car on which is placed the vehicle to be parked. Since the transport lift can only accept one vehicle, this type of parking garage cannot perform a rapid in and out parking cycle. The use of accessory cars, moreover, makes special apparatus necessary for introducing the car into all parking compartments, requiring a considerable technical expenditure.
Special transfer apparatus for the transportation of vehicles between lift and parking compartment are furthermore known from publications WO91/18162 and EP-A1-0 395 601. In the first of these two publications, a transfer apparatus is proposed which is mechanically very expensive, and especially susceptible to breakdown, this transfer apparatus requiring several levels which are displaceable with respect to each other and have comb-like ends which, upon depositing the vehicle in the parking compartment, inter-engage with corresponding comb-like configurations in the bottom of the compartment.
In the second of these two publications, a transfer apparatus is disclosed which travels sideways with respect to the vehicle and utilizes one of the forward wheels to pull the vehicle into the lift and to push the vehicle into a parking compartment. Because of the external position of the transfer apparatus, additional room is required. Moreover, this transfer apparatus grips only one side of the vehicle, which leads to an unbalanced loading of the chassis.